After almost two days "on the road", a tired but happy group of 15 tenth graders stepped off the plane in Sydney on August 7, 2009 to embark upon the 12th consecutive student delegation from the Central Arava to Australia. They were accompanied by Michal Egger, a veteran resident of Moshav Hazeva who has been teaching in the region for the past 30 years, and is currently the vice principal of the Shittim Elementary School.

The group received a very warm reception at the Masada School, this year's delegation hosts. The young people were very excited, particularly since some of them had already gotten to know each other through Facebook, and connections were made very quickly.

The visit to Sydney was a wonderful mix of visits to local institutions, sites in and around the city, and of course to the Emmanuel and Moriah Schools. Michal said that the farewell event at Masada was so full of tears that if we could have collected them it would have helped with the drought! Click here for more information and photos from the visit to Sydney. 

Journeying on to Melbourne, the students were very warmly welcomed at Bialik College. One of the most memorable visits of the trip was to the Holocaust Museum in Melbourne, where the young people met two survivors who told them their heartbreaking stories of survival. The students were spellbound and moved, and asked many relevant questions.

Wonderful visits were made to many of the community’s institutions, including King David and Yavneh, as well as to state school Brighton, some of whose students joined Bialik and King David students and the Israeli delegation members in attending a very enjoyable footy match between St. Kilda and the Kangaroos! Leave-taking at the end of the visit was very emotional, with much crying and hugging, and wishes to meet again soon. More information and photos from the visit to Melbourne can be found at:

Click here for more information

Click here for more photos